My friends at the Cactus Jungle, an excellent Berkeley succulent nursery, sold me arm-length nitrile gloves and 12-inch long haemostats (the clamp/plier hybrids used by surgeons) for weeding around succulents. These improved matters greatly, but I still had to abandon the area between Agave parryi and a Puya venusta to feral bermuda grass. On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 6:47 PM, Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net>wrote: > I missed the subtle British humor re. infectious enthusiasms at first pass! > > Geophytes and cacti are good companions, but I'm not adding the > latter to my bulb beds for the reason Matt Mattus mentioned: > "Do you have any problems with weeds?" > > I think the only way to weed around a cactus is to use a long-nosed > pliers or large tweezers. I recall my mother doing that with her > cactus collection, which I hated as a child. For the bulb beds, I use > a shellfish tool shaped like a long, narrow spoon, so the rounded > edge doesn't damage the bulbs as I scoop out the hundreds of cress > and Eccremocarpus seedlings. The latter, a Chilean climber, is very > decorative on the screened sides of the bulb house, attracting > hummingbirds, but I can't reach all the capsules to prevent its > releasing its wind-dispersed seeds. Fortunately, the seedlings are > not quite hardy in the open here. I think you could almost call it a > geophyte -- it has an enlarged rhizome. I've also caused my own > problems with weeds by planting a lot of dryland annuals in a > graveled area next to the bulb house, as a way of utilizing a space > that has to be left available for vehicle access to the back garden. > > It looks from the photos like John Lonsdale is growing his Asphodelus > acaulis near a building foundation? I haven't tried it in the open > yet, but since being released from its mesh pot last spring it has > grown fast and I should have a spare crown to play with next summer. > This is a wonderful low plant producing many flowers of an unusual > warm pink color in late winter. The foliage, though profuse, is not > long or messy. > > Jane McGary > Portland, Oregon, USA > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >